Malting-machine



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Patented Apr. 20, 1897.

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MALTING MAUHINE.

(No Model.)

Patented Apr. 20, 1897.

Q Vitmaooeo %r mm" wqsmucron n c UNITED STATES PATENT OFFicE.

MICHAEL A. BARBER, OF NORIVICH, CONNECTICUT.

MALTlNG-MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part Of Letters Patent N0. 580,840, dated April 20, 1897.

Application filed July 28, 1896- Serial No. 600,798. (N0 model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, MICHAEL A. BARBER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Norwich, New London county, Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Malting-Machines, which improvements are fully described in the following specification, reference being had to the accompanying two sheets of drawings.

My present invention consists of certain improvements in the class of malting-machines illustrated and elaborately set forth in a patent issued to Andrew Wiggin and myself December 10, 1889, and numbered 416,769.

The immediate purpose of this invention is to improve the mechanism provided for agitating and stirring the grain during the period of germination and during the subsequent process of kiln-drying, to the end that said grain may be more thoroughly and uniformly stirred and separated throughout its mass, so that each kernel thereof shall receive as far as possible the same treatment and that the mass after treatment shall be deposited in a layer or sheet of more nearly uniform thickness than has been possible heretofore. In the machine set forth in the said earlier patent I have found a slight tendency on the part of the buckets that scoop up the grain to deposit it in a succession of ridges and furrows extending transversely to the length of the malting-chamber, and one of the aims of the present invention is to correct said defect. I have also improved somewhat the mechanismfor imparting both a rotary and traveling movement to the revoluble stirrer and also the device by means of which the reversible buckets are caused to reverse in unison, all of said improvements being fully described hereinafter.

Inasmuch as the general plan of my newlyimproved machine is substantially like that described in the said earlier patent I have considered it necessary to illustrate here only those portions that are closely related to or in some measure depend upon my present improvements.

In the annexed drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation of a portion of the malting-ohamber, showing the ways (of rack and track form) on which the rotary stirrer travels, also a portion of said stirrer and the mechanism end to end of said chamber.

for driving it. Fig. 2 is a top or plan view'of the said driving mechanism. Fig. 3 is an end view of the stirrer, and Fig. 4 is a side elevation of the same.

In the drawings, 10 and 11 indicate, respeetively, portions of the floor and side walls of the malting-chamber, and 12 is a toothed rack mounted upon each of said side walls or upon upward extensions thereof.

13 denotes a short shaft mounted to revolve in a journal-bearing 14, that is secured to or formed as a part of a light but stiff metallic frame 15. Such a frame 15 is provided at each side of the malting-chamber, and each frame-section is provided with grooved wheels 16, that travel on ways 17 of track form, thus providing a carriage that may be moved from This frame has a provision for the vertical adjustment of the entire agitating device carried upon it relatively to the carrying wheels or grooved wheels 16 by means of suitable sliding ways and adjustingscrews f f, as more fully described in details in the former patent aforesaid.

For the purpose of joining and stiffening the two opposing frame-sections 15 I provide cross-rods 17 at the front and rear of the described carriage, and also a similar rod 18, that connects upwardly-extending portions 15 of the said frame.

Upon the outer end of shaft 13 is fixed a pinion-gear 19, that meshes with rack 12. This pinion-gear is made removable and interchangeable with supplementary gears of diiferent diameters which can be substituted in place, so as to vary at will the rate of linear travel relatively to the rotary velocity of the revolving stirrer, which is a useful provision for adapting the apparatus to different kinds of malt or malt in different stages of treatment. 'Thisadjustmentismade practicable by means of the cooperative vertical adjustment of the frame 15 and devices carried thereon relatively to the carrying wheels by means of the screws f f. A third adjustment is provided for in the radiallyadjustable bearings of the reversible buckets, hereinafter referred to. The object of these several adjustments is to properly proportion the linear feed and the action of the buckets, each to each, with relation to the quality,

number of sides.

wheel 24:, driven by a chain 25 from a sprocket 26, mounted upon a shaft 27, the ends of which latter are journaled in bearings 28, secured to frame 15, as best seen in Fig. 2 of the drawings.

28 denotes a large grooved pulley that is fixed on shaft 27, and 29 3O denote small grooved guide-pulleys that are j ournaled to re volve in a horizontal plane at about the level of the top of pulley 28. It will nowbe noted that the guide-pulleys 29 30 are located at opposite sides of the pulleys 28 in such positions that they may serve to guide a cable 31, that is passed around the said pulley 2t When the cable is drawn lengthwise in either direction, it causes pulley 28 and sprocket 26 to revolve, and thus rotary motion is imparted to the large sprocket 24c and its shaft 22. Gear 23 simultaneously drives the gear 20 and causes the pinion 19 to travel on the rack 12, with which it meshes, thus moving the frame 15 and all of the elements mounted thereon forward or backward, according to the direction of movement of the drivingcable 31. The rate of speed imparted to said frame will of course be governed by the relative sizes of the several gears and sprocketwheels and by the ratio of movement of the said driving-cable.

The shaft 22 bears my revoluble stirrer, and as the said stirrer perhaps embodies the most important of my present improvements 1 shall proceed to describe it in detail. Said stirrer is supported by arms 32, (here shown as four in number,) that are secured to and radiate from the shaft 22. Secured to these arms, near their outer ends, is a shell 33, that is shown substantially square in cross-section, but may be polygonal in cross-section of any The angles are preferably somewhat rounded, as at This shell eX- tends from end to end of the stirrer and is of such magnitude and dimensions as to receive on its surface the mass of the grain discharged by each bucket as it arrives in succession at the discharging-point, whence the grain is distributed in measurably equable volume upon the malt-floor as the shell continuously revolves without interference with the bucket in advance, as heretofore. Journaled in the ends of arms 32, which project beyond the shell 33 in radially-adjustable bearings, are reversible scoops or buckets 34, that are substantially like those described and illustrated in said Patent No. 416,769, and each of said buckets is provided with a rib 35, extending along the central rear portion, as in said earlier patent.

In order that the several buckets may be reversed in unison and with as little frictional resistance as possible, I have provided a spider 36, that is loosely mounted on shaft 22 and have connected the radial arms of said spider with the buckets by means of rods 37 the point of connection with the buckets being so located that the swinging of either bucket (to reverse it) will serve, through its rod 37, to rock the spider and thus simultaneously reverse all of the other buckets of the series.

At each end of the shell 33 is a flange or guard-rib 38 of peculiar shape. (Best seen in Fig. 4 of the drawings.) These flanges serve as side boards to prevent the mass of grain from spreading in a lateral direction (i. 8., toward the side walls of the maltingchamber) when said grain is spilled by the buckets upon the shell 33. As the stirrer revolves such of the grain as falls into the angle formed by the shell and guard-ribs is guided by the latter toward the center of the malting-chamber by reason of the inwardly-curved portions 38*,said angle beingin effect a trough, down which the grain slides by gravity and is meanwhile directed by the curve of said trough toward the center of the chamber and is finally deposited to be picked up by the bucket when the stirrer passes again through the chamber.

The action of the buckets 34 is fully set forth in the said earlier patent, but I may refer to it briefly here and also explain the action of my newly-added features of invention. When the cable 31 is drawn lengthwise, rotary motion is imparted to the stirrer, (of which the buckets form parts,) and the stirrer-carriage is at the same time caused to travel upon the ways 17, as above explained. The earlier patent sets forth the utility and value of the parallel-m otion device, consisting of the rack-bars 12 and pinions 19, meshing therewith, whereby the agitator-frame 15 is compelled to travel backward and forward at each end at the same rate of speed, thereby preventing the binding of said frame in its bearings. This device or its equivalent is absolutely essential to the proper working of my present improved stirring and distributing mechanism and is a necessary feature of the complete workin g combination. Owing to the greatly-enlarged size of the revoluble stirrer, by reason of the introduction of the polygonal shell and the consequent increased radial sweep of the reversible buckets, a change in the gearing of the parts was necessitated, as hereinbefore described, and also a consider able increase in the length of the traveling frame. This, however, adds to the steadiness of the linear travel, which is quite important, since the introduction of the shell or drum has greatly increased the weight and mass of the rotary stirrer, giving it the capacities and functions of a fiy-wheel, whereby great steadiness of movement is insured, but at the same time enhancing the importance of the parallel-motion provision embodied in the rack-bar and pinion element of the combination. The new revoluble stirrer may be several feet in diameter and weigh many hundred pounds, whereas the former device was a simple rotary shaft with buckets clinging closely thereto. As the buckets are brought successively in contact with the grain .each one scoops a quantity of said grain and carries it upward nearly to the vertical center of the stirrer and then begins to spill the grain. In the bucketed-stirrer of the said earlier patent the grain is spilled upon the backs of the reversible buckets, lodging and packing in the recess formed between adjacent buckets and the longitudinal reversingribs attached to the rear thereof and upon the shaft, whence it falls directly upon the malting-chamber floor, with a tendency to pile up in ridges or windrows, but in my present form of machine the grain is first deposited upon the uppermost face of the shell 33, and as said shell continues to revolve the grain is gradually spilled over the curved portion b3 and deposited upon the floor of the chamber in a sheet of even thickness, and in order that the kernels of the germinating grain may be effectually separated and individually exposed to the air I prefer to provide upon the surface of the shell radially-projecting spurs or teats 39, so located and arranged as to isolate the kernels to a certain extent, and thus prevent them from sliding off from the shell in entangled masses, but rather causing them to fall separately, receiving at the same time a turning motion which contributes to their aeration during their descent and aids their uniform distribution.

My described improvements are in no wise complex, neither are they expensive to produce, yet they perform their work in a most satisfactory manner.

Having thus described my invention, I claim 1. In a revoluble stirrer of the class herein described, in combination, a series of reversible buckets and a shell of such dimensions as to receive the mass of grain deposited by the buckets located between the said buckets and the axial center of the stirrer, substantially as specified.

2. In combination with a suitably-journaled shaft, radial arms secured to saidshaft,

buckets journaled in the free ends of said arms, and a shell of such dimensions as to receive the mass of grain deposited by the buckets interposed between the shaft and buckets; said shell being substantially polygonal in cross-section.

3. In combination in a malt-stirrer, a shaft with radial arms, reversible buckets journaled in the outer ends of said arms, a shell between the said buckets and shaft, having substantially flat portions adjacent to the buckets and curved portions 33 intermediate each pair of buckets, and means connecting outward and inward curves, substantially as specified.

5. In a revoluble stirrer, the combination of the journaled shaft, having radial arms, reversible buckets journaled in the free ends thereof, each bearing a rigid reversing-rib, a shell interposed between the shaft and the buckets, a spider loosely mounted on the shaft, and link connections between the said buckets and the spider-arms, whereby the reversal of one bucket causes all the others to reverse in unison, substantially as specified.

6. In a revoluble stirrer, the combination of the journaled shaft, with radial arms having reversible buckets journaled in the free ends thereof, and a shell interposed between the shaft and the said buckets, the said shell bearing on its outer surface radially-projecting spurs or teats for the better distribution of the grains, substantially as specified.

7. In a revoluble stirrer, the combination of the journaled shaft, having radial arms bearing reversible buckets, journaled in the free ends thereof, with ashell of such dimensions as to receive the mass of grain deposited by the buckets located between the said shaft and the reversible buckets, at such relative distance from each that the edges of the reversible buckets shall strike and bear upon the shell in either position, whereby the said buckets are steadied and held against further revolution during the act of stirring, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

8. A revoluble stirrer for malting purposes consisting of a journaled shaft having radial arms, a shell surrounding the said shaft at a suitable distance, borne by the said arms and a series of reversible buckets journaled in the free ends of the radial arms outside the shell in journal-boxes made radially adjustable to and from the shell, whereby the working angle of the buckets may be varied and adjusted at the will of the operator, in accordance with the varying character of the work, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

9. i In a malting-machine, the combination of the revoluble stirrer consisting of the central shaft, with radial arms, the reversible buckets and the reversing means, the intermediate shell, the agitator-frame traveling on ways, the transverse pinion-shaft and pinion borne on the said traveling frame, the rackbars, the drivingcable, and intermediate gearing between the said driving-cable and the central shaft, and also between the said shaft and the pinion-shaft and pinions, engaging the rack-bar, all substantially as and for the purpose specified.

10. In a malting-machine, the combination and intermediate gearing between the said 10 driving-cable and the said changeable piniongear and rack-bars, including the gear on the central stirrer-shaft, all substantially as and for the purpose specified.

MICHAEL A. BARBER.

Witnesses ALONZO M. LUTHER, FRANK H. ALLEN. 

